As with many adventures, ours began in a train station; the Riverside train station, to be exact. A group of 23 garden club members met in this historic depot for a customized tour of six private gardens, led by several docents of the Frederick Law Olmsted Society.
The entire town of Riverside, formed in 1868, was designed by renowned landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted. The entire town of Riverside has a National Historic Landmark designation and is often referred to as the town in a forest. The quaint downtown with its unique tower is the centerpiece of Riverside; a town with gently winding streets, a variety of stately trees and boulevards that meander, much like the nearby Des Plaines River, down charming lanes reminiscent of another era and past homes designed by noted architects, including Frank Lloyd Wright.
Frederick Law Olmsted is widely regarded as the founder of American landscape architecture.
Our tour was arranged by the conservation and education committee as we wrapped up our garden club’s 90th anniversary year. We were hoping to see how a town can develop in harmony with nature. We decided to tour Riverside (the past) and visit a relatively new enterprise in nearby Brookfield, Root 66. The owner of Root 66 gave us a program on hydroponics and aquaponics (the future) at our June meeting.
As we “motored in our machines” to the gardens, our cars in procession, hazard lights blinking, racing through town at about 20 mph, we must have looked like a funeral procession. Some of the gardens were more fitting to the architecture and era of the home with prairie type plantings and natives, while others were more precise and controlled. We viewed the grounds of the Avery Coonley Playhouse, designed by Wright, as well as five other gardens.
I found it to be a delightful and inspiring adventure, tired but smiling as I got back into my car at the Riverside train station, where our adventure began.
Beautiful photos — and fascinating commentary!
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Thank you.
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Oh, Penny! What a picture perfect description of the charming town of Riverside! Although I haven’t spent a lot of time there, your beautifully worded tour reminded me of drives through the shady, winding streets admiring the historic homes of Riverside. It would be just fascinating to tour the Prairie Style homes and gardens there! So happy that you shared your day with us! ♡
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Thank you. It was a fascinating tour, Dawn, but, what I really urge you to do is to at least go to visit the library in Riverside. It is right across from the train station and beautiful. Knowing your love of books and your own town’s library, I am pretty sure you will be in awe of Riverside’s.
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Oh, thank you, Penny! 💕My husband and I will most definitely plan a visit to the Riverside Library. We would both enjoy it!! Heartfelt thanks for being a wonderful local tour guide (and friend!), dear Penny! Enjoy this gorgeous day! 💗
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You are welcome. When you go, make sure to check out the quiet reading room.
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Once again your garden club has lifted my spirits with an educational and inspiring visit to a place I had only known from books! Your appreciation of the history of your area is delightful. Often people live with beauty right in their own area and never take the time to explore it. Thank you for taking me on a trip to Illinois!
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I am sitting on the deck, enjoying the late afternoon sun with a soft breeze and low humidity, which is rare, and a hummingbird just came by to sip a stem of bee balm I put in a vase and here you are, Marilyn, adding to my peaceful moment. I hope will bring you a few more moments of good spirits as well.
Thank you. Folks around here travel to New York’s Central Park unaware that that an entire town was designed by the same person less than 10 miles away. You are very welcome. I hope all is well with you. Penny
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What a lovely post. I am especially enjoying the lush greens. My brief visit to the desert makes me appreciate this post. I love the history of the area. Country girl that I am, I had not heard of this area. And of course, I love that once again our lives run in serendipitous parallels as we each were involved with “root 66”. Although mine was probably not as useful as hydroponics. What I saw was a faded shed with the words printed on the side and roof. It was close to a piece of the Mother Road so there are connections.
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Thank you, Janet.
I remember that longing for green on a road trip to Colorado in July early in our married life. Driving through Nebraska, the cornfield of Iowa were so welcome as we headed east. The desert of Arizona is even more void of green, though a beauty of its own.
I don’t think Illinois gets enough credit for its beauty – and its variety of areas.
Haha! You were close to a piece of Route 66 while I was on part of Route 66 at Root 66. Rooting is fun.
Enjoy being home.
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I’m so glad you were able to fully participate in such an interesting outing with your garden club friends. How fun to begin the journey with a train ride. And I would have enjoyed everything about the historical connections to Olmsted’s work. I do have a funny admission. Many years ago when podcasts were relatively new, I was listening to a broadcast from Wisconsin, but forgot it wasn’t local NPR. The reference was to Olmsted and his contribution to Riverside Park. I don’t even know if my information is correct, honestly, because since I thought it was a local broadcast I translated the entire story to Olmsted had left his famous mark on a park in Riverside, California, not too far from where I live. I was so thrilled…until a few YEARS later when it dawned on me that I had the entire context wrong. I suppose I was just hopeful! So maybe one day I just need need to take that same tour you and your garden club members enjoyed. And for now, I’ll be content to enjoy your wonderful story and photos. 🙂
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I was, too, Debra, especially since I was the one who made the arrangements. Oh, the headaches and joys of planning a field trip! I was hoping for 10 and we ended up with 23. These women are so much fun and so interesting and they really do “roll with the punches” . I think most gardeners do. 🙂
Oh, Debra, that is a fun story – and I’ve made similar assumptions at times. Some of Riverside reminds me a bit of Pasadena and you would really like Riverside (Illinois) library. The station is like walking back in time.
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Another beautiful post with equally beautiful photos. Like a Monet painting! What a lovely adventure. I see why you’re so busy these days!!!
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Oh my, L. Marie – thank you for such a compliment. If you have never been to Riverside, you must go some day – and, as I’ve mentioned to others, you should visit the library. I guess I’ve been lucky in that I had some really good days in between the painful ones.
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We’ve visited several Olmstead-designed landscapes … Central Park, Biltmore, even one in Seattle come to mind, but I had no idea there was a whole town. That’s wonderful and I wish we could visit it.
Love that you were able to take a train. Wish our part(s) of the country had better public transportation.
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Frederick Law Olmsted really left a legacy, didn’t he? Riverside is beautiful and interesting – and really close by. We were lucky to have this private tour.
We only met in the train station, though it would have been fun to all take the train. This depot/station is on the line we take going into Chicago, though not my stop. I sometimes complain about public transportation here, but, I guess it really is pretty good,
Hope you are having a nice weekend.
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I always enjoy your garden club outings Penny. Love the water lilies!
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Thank you. There were beautiful on the day of this work, Juliet. It was a fun trip.
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